I love this season

A few thoughts today:
- First, I love autumn. I love the color of the leaves. I love the cooler weather. I love that its warm enough to wear flip-flops but cool enough to wear my favorite green corduroy jacket. I love orange (and currently on the lookout for my favorite corduroy jacket in orange.) I love the smell of apple cider and pumpkin pie. I love my Fall candles in these flavors. Agggh....I love it all!! I'm even tempted to become seasonal decorator. I saw these tiny little pumpkins at Safeway that would look perfect on my mantle. I've been bitten by the Fall bug, for sure!!!

- Speaking of Fall, I'm totally in the pumpkin mood. I made this Pumpkin Bread Pudding last night. It was divine! I made Pumpkin Bread tonight, it was alright...anyone have a good recipe? I'm looking for one that tastes like the Pumpkin Muffins (my favorite) from Panera Bread.

- I cannot wait for Christmas! I love Christmas even more than Autumn!!! I love the Christmas carols that we sing year after year. The smell of cloves and cinnamon mixed in with the warmth of the fireplace cannot be any better. I'm so excited to put up our Christmas tree and buy Malone Christmas presents for the first time. Look at these great Christmas Stockings from Pottery Barn (pictured on the left). I'm saving up!! But most of all I love the simplicity of a baby coming to save all of humanity.

-Malone has a big front tooth. She is a teething maniac right now and just wants to chew everything. Her current snack of choice, magazine covers. She sprouted her bottom two front teeth a month or two ago, but just this week one of the top front teeth reared its head. I suspect the other one is not far off.

- We went to the Little Gym again this week and took Cameron. There were doing kind of babies and there were watching kind of babies. Malone is definitely a watching kind of baby. It became apparent to Cameron and I that she is a bit more shy than we thought. But no problem, she'll get used to it, right?

- There is a major difference of opinion in our household and this week Cameron sneakily won a victory in this debate. He holds that everything is worth paying more money for because you get what you pay for. For instance, he would rather shop 3 times a year but buy his clothes at Banana Republic or Nordstrom. I hold that this is not always true and can't get myself to pay $200 for a shirt that I could easily buy at Target. The other day we were in a search for some jeans for me. I am happy to say that my immediate, post-baby jeans are too big. Yay! After a little "no-good-jeans-to-be-found-anywhere-at-Old Navy" incident where I left very depressed, Cameron convinced me to just look at some more expensive jeans/better quality (not necessarily buy, just look and see whether I really do have a post-baby funny shaped bum that no jeans can make look good or if its just all in my head). I have good news and bad news. First the bad, I found the most amazing pair of expensive jeans that I looked pretty darn hot in. Hanging my head in shame, I gave in and let Cameron buy them for me. I lost the battle due to my own vanity. The good news, I scored some hot jeans. Maybe I should lose more often?! I'll post pictures of them once I get them back from the tailor (I'm a short girl and Cameron convinced me that cutting my jeans to make them short enough is no longer an appropriate form of hemming).

-Anyone watch the VP debates? I was so nervous watching it! I thought both parties did well and was impressed by both candidates. I must admit that I'm a Sarah Palin fan! Even if she doesn't win (ehmm....I mean, McCain doesn't win), I will be proud to have an "Alaska: coldest state, hottest governor" sticker on my minivan...ok I own neither, but if I did, I would display the sticker proudly! Anyways, not really knowing much about Biden, I was surprised with his depth of knowledge and experience. And he seemed much less like a slick politician than I had originally thought. PS: What is Palin's workout routine? She looks freaking amazing for just having had a baby 5 months ago and having 5 kids. Oh, yes, that's right, she's running for Vice President of the US and never sleeps.

-Lastly, here's a little something to brighten your day. I was playing with Malone, putting a bowl on my head and letting it fall off. Apparently, it was really funny.